gluten free tahini and white chocolate cake with blackberries - xmas 2020

gluten free tahini and white chocolate cake with blackberries - xmas 2020

• 17 Dec 2020

Welcome to Day 4 of Xmas Week 2020. As you know I became a big fan of Honey and Co this past year. When restaurants had to close in the UK the owners of Honey and Co, Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich, did a cookalong on Instagram. This tahini and white chocolate cake was featured and with a bottle of half used tahini in my kitchen, I thought I'd make the cake for Xmas week 2020 but I'd make it gluten-free.

Blackberries are in abundance at the moment so I filled the cake with the cream filling topped with a blackberry compote. If berries aren't in season, a berry jam will do the trick with a few white chocolate shards on top to make it pretty.

Here’s the recipe for you which makes a 2 layer 17cm cake. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Tahini and White Chocolate Cake with blackberries adapted from Honey and Co

Ingredients
160g caster sugar
150g plain flour or GF mix (¾ cup GF flour + ¼ cup almond meal)
¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda
¾ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
Zest of 1 lemon
35g chopped white chocolate
1 egg
60ml vegetable oil
115g tahini paste
1½ tsp vanilla extract
120g buttermilk
90g boiling water
 
Icing
125g mascarpone
100g full-fat plain cream cheese
40g icing sugar
1½ tsp vanilla extract
100g double cream

1½ tsp rum
 
Blackberry compote
125 gm blackberries, fresh or frozen
35 gm caster sugar
Juice of ½ lime
 
Topping
150g fresh blackberries
 
Method
Heat oven to 190°C conventional. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl mix the egg with the oil, tahini, vanilla and buttermilk, then combine the two mixes, before slowly adding the boiling water. Mix until everything is well incorporated.
 
Grease and line the base of two 17cm cake tins with a round of baking paper. Divide the mix evenly between the two tins, place both in the centre of the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Rotate for an even bake and return to the oven for a further 10-15 minutes. The cakes should feel lovely and bouncy and have a good golden colour all over. Remove from the oven and carefully flip the cakes to flatten the tops. Allow to cool upside down. Make the compote while the cake is cooling

Compote
Bring ingredients to the boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, and stir occasionally until thickened (12-18 minutes). Remove from heat and leave to cool.

Icing
Mix the softened cheeses together with the icing sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add the cream and using a small whisk, whisk until well combined and thickened. If you are using an electric mixer, use a paddle to avoid overworking the mix and splitting it.

Place the first cake on a serving platter, top with half the icing followed by ¼ cup of the compote then top with the second cake. Spread the remaining icing over the top of the cake then add some fresh berries.

If serving on the same day, it is best to avoid placing the cake in the fridge. If you are keeping it for longer do place it in the fridge, but allow it to come to room temperature before serving.

My tummy doesn't like mascarpone so I didn't try the cake but for those who do like it, the cake received a big thumbs up.

See you all again tomorrow with the last bake for Xmas Week 2020, which actually requires no baking at all. Perfect for a hot summer's day in Sydney.

Bye for now,

Jillian